Aaron Schauffhausen's ex-wife, Jessica, far left, is hustled out of the courtroom after a jury rejected Aaron Schauffhausen's insanity defense in the killing of the couple's three daughters at the conclusion of his two-week trial at the St. Croix County courthouse in Hudson, Wis., on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

The family and friends of three young girls killed by their father in River Falls, Wis., last summer let out audible sighs of relief in a Hudson courtroom as a judge read the verdict in Aaron Schaffhausen's insanity trial.

After deliberating about 3 1/2 hours Tuesday, April 16, the jury concluded that while Schaffhausen had a mental disease or defect at the time of the crimes, he was legally sane when he killed Amara, 11, Sophie, 8, and Cecilia, 5, during an unsupervised visit to their home July 10.

Prosecutors contended Schaffhausen was angry that his former wife, Jessica Schaffhausen, had left him and wouldn't take him back. He killed their daughters to hurt her, choosing the "satisfaction of revenge over the satisfaction of being a father," prosecutor Gary Freyberg said in his closing statement earlier Tuesday.

Flint Watt, Jessica Schaffhausen's uncle, said the family viewed the verdict as "one step going forward in a long, long process to try to grieve and recover from this tragedy."

"Aaron's going to be spending a long time, I think, thinking about what he's done, primarily to the girls and Jessica, but also, basically, to himself, to his family, to the rest of our family," Watt said.

Sentencing is expected in July after a presentence investigation requested by the defense. Schaffhausen will be sentenced to life in prison for each of the three counts of first-degree intentional homicide, but it will be up to St. Croix County Circuit Judge Howard Cameron to determine whether the 35-year-old will have the possibility of release into extended supervision in 20 or more years.

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Freyberg, an assistant state attorney general who led the prosecution, said after the verdict that the murders -- in which the girls' throats were cut -- was "one of the worst crimes I've ever had the misfortune to be involved in prosecuting."

But at that moment, he was happy.

"I feel very happy that the jury saw the truth in this case," he said. "And they did. They got it right."

It was not a sentiment shared by defense attorney John Kucinski, who said he would appeal. When asked whether his client was surprised by the jury's decision, he said, "We're all surprised."

"We got the best expert in the United States that explained the puzzle," he said. "Nobody else explained the puzzle."

That expert was San Diego psychologist J. Reid Meloy, who testified that he believed Schaffhausen was legally insane at the time of the killings. Meloy, who was hired by the defense, testified that Schaffhausen's mental disease of major depressive disorder, combined with a personality disorder, made him lack "substantial capacity to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law."

Meloy also pointed to a rare, deep-seated and emotionally charged condition called catathymia as a motivation for the killings.

Aaron Schauffhausen enters the courtroom before the start of closing arguments at the St. Croix County Courthouse in Hudson, Wis., on Tuesday, April 16, 2013. (Pioneer Press: John Doman)

In catathymic homicides, the killer's decision-making narrows to homicide, suicide or both.

Freyberg said that during its deliberations, the jury asked for a definition of catathymia as well as Meloy's report and the reports of two other mental health experts who testified. But they were told by the judge to refer to their memories of the testimony.

In his closing statement, Freyberg said that even though catathymia could have some applications in psychology, it does not apply to the legal definition of insanity.

There was nothing puzzling or mysterious about the crimes, he said. Schaffhausen killed his three girls because he was jealous and angry.

"Angry that his wife left him and wouldn't take him back," Freyberg said.

Schaffhausen was in control of his actions and made a clear choice, the prosecutor said, telling the courtroom that while Schaffhausen was mean to the point most people would call him crazy, it was not legal insanity. Schaffhausen is a manipulator, who knew what he was doing, Freyberg said.

The prosecutor also noted that Madison psychiatrist Erik Knudson, who was hired by the prosecution, and court-appointed psychiatrist Ralph Baker both testified that Schaffhausen was legally sane.

Kucinski told the jury in his closing statement Tuesday that, in some ways, the killings were not about people; rather, they were about dependency, which stemmed from Schaffhausen's childhood relationships with his parents and later transferred to Jessica Schaffhausen.

A composite image of three photographs of Amara Schaffhausen, 11, Sophie Schaffhausen, 8, and Cecilia Schaffhausen, 5. The three sisters were found dead in their home on Tuesday, July 10, 2012. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: Doug Palme)

"This crime is deeply rooted in Aaron's dependency," said Kucinski. "That's where all this comes from."

The closing statements came after two weeks of testimony from a litany of witnesses that included, along with the three mental health experts, a number of Schaffhausen's family members and former co-workers.

They spoke of a man deeply troubled by his separation and eventual divorce in January 2012, and three co-workers testified that they heard Schaffhausen blurt out several comments about killing his children in the months leading up to the crimes.

A cousin told the court that Schaffhausen called her in the middle of the night and said that on a previous occasion the construction worker began driving from Minot, N.D., to River Falls with the intention of cutting his girls' throats, but turned around halfway.

In a March 2012 phone call, Schaffhausen told his ex-wife that he had thoughts of tying her up and making her choose which child he would kill, so she would feel the pain he felt, Jessica Schaffhausen testified.

Freyberg argued in his closing statement that Schaffhausen intended to make that fantasy real on July 10, but when Jessica Schaffhausen refused to see him, he went to "Plan B" and killed the girls while she was at work.

Jessica Schaffhausen testified that as she was leaving work, Schaffhausen called and said, "You can come now; I killed the kids." The prosecution said that spoke directly to the motive of revenge.

Police responding to Jessica Schaffhausen's frantic 911 call found the girls dead in their beds and gasoline splashed about the basement of the home. The girls' necks had been slit, and the youngest had also been strangled.

Schaffhausen turned himself in to police later that day.

He pleaded guilty to the charges -- three counts of first-degree intentional homicide and one count of attempted arson -- but maintained he was insane at the time of the crimes and therefore not legally responsible for them. That skipped the first -- or guilt -- phase of the trial, sending it directly into the next period of addressing his mental health.

Schaffhausen declined to testify. But the defense played a recording of his interview with police after the slayings. He twice broke down crying and said he didn't know if he had killed his daughters.

Under Wisconsin law, to reach a verdict of insanity, only 10 of 12 jurors had to find evidence showing Schaffhausen suffered from a "mental disease or defect" that led him to lack the capacity to either know his conduct was wrong or conform to requirements of the law.

Watt, Jessica Schaffhausen's uncle, said the family will spend the next few days working with the community to find a way to memorialize the girls.

"I can't believe really how much the community has done for all of us," he said. "Anything we've asked for."